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Fire-Belly & Sword-Tail Newts (Cynops & Hypselotriton)Perhaps the most famous and frequently bred newts in captivity, the fire-bellied newts and sword-tail newts are well known throughout the world as being excellent, gregarious captives.

My first batch(about 7) of cynops pyrrhogaster juvies morphed around late May/early July. They’ve been raised terrestrially. A couple are pretty decent sized. My question is: when and how do I prepare my tank for them to return to the water? Two of them are like 5 times bigger than the rest and look like it might be a very long time before the other 5 are ready. Right now they live in a setup with soil, Moss, rocks, leaf litter and bark. I mist it every other day. Never got this far with offspring before so I’m clueless. Thanks.

Once they are around eight months old I just put mine in a very weedy aquatic set up and see what happens. They will normally submerge after about a week or so and gradually start hunting/feeding underwater and that's it really, just don't underestimate the importance of the plants, they need to be able to climb up and down and walk across them on the surface to feel secure, until their tails broaden they can easily drown in open water.

I'm still not sure if it's age, or size, or a combination of both that makes them willing to take to the water, but with the sasayama strain that I have eight months seems to work every time.

Once they are around eight months old I just put mine in a very weedy aquatic set up and see what happens. They will normally submerge after about a week or so and gradually start hunting/feeding underwater and that's it really, just don't underestimate the importance of the plants, they need to be able to climb up and down and walk across them on the surface to feel secure, until their tails broaden they can easily drown in open water.

I'm still not sure if it's age, or size, or a combination of both that makes them willing to take to the water, but with the sasayama strain that I have eight months seems to work every time.

Update: It worked! Put my largest juvie in a ten gallon filled with plants and water this past Sunday. And today was underwater and quickly ate some bloodworms I dangled in front of him. Success! So I put the next largest one in there.

Next question. Now these guys are maybe half the size of their parents. When, if at all, is a good time to reunite them? Will the parents attack/try to eat them? Should I try to put some size on them first? Thanks again!

Glad it worked! :)
I know some people struggle to get them aquatic, but it can take time and they sometimes sulk and stop feeding for a while when first put in the water. So far I've not lost any to drowning using that method, even the thin, slow growing morphs seem to catch up with their siblings once you can get plenty of food into them!
I put aquatic juveniles in with their parents as soon as I'm sure they're strong enough to swim up to the surface to breath. The adults aren't aggressive towards juvies and once the've checked them out they'll just ignore them.

Glad it worked! :)
I know some people struggle to get them aquatic, but it can take time and they sometimes sulk and stop feeding for a while when first put in the water. So far I've not lost any to drowning using that method, even the thin, slow growing morphs seem to catch up with their siblings once you can get plenty of food into them!
I put aquatic juveniles in with their parents as soon as I'm sure they're strong enough to swim up to the surface to breath. The adults aren't aggressive towards juvies and once the've checked them out they'll just ignore them.

Wow. The guy I put in last night is already aquatic this morning. And he already ate a small worm. Good times.